Page:Village life in Korea (1911).djvu/112

98 and gay as their fond mothers can make them. We often see the little fellows with striped coats made of different-colored silks. The missionaries call these Joseph's coats. I have not the least doubt that a custom like this was in use in the days of Jacob, and caused him to give a "coat of many colors" to his favorite son as a token of his love. The clothes of the village boy are not always as clean as one might wish them to be, since they are often worn for three months without a change. The average boy will get a clean suit in the fall when the weather begins to get cold, and he will wear this till New Year's, by which time it will doubtless be ready for the laundry. Then he gets a new suit which will answer all purposes till the spring comes on and makes another change necessary. The change in the spring is often made by degrees — that is, one piece of the suit is laid aside at a time till it all disappears and our village boy is seen on the playground with his entire costume made up of only the hair ribbon that is tied to the end of his braid.

The boy usually wears shoes; even in summer he is likely to have on some sort of shoes, the most common of which are made of straw and cost less than two cents a pair. The next best are those made of hemp twine, which cost a little more but last much longer than the straw ones. Then come the rawhide shoes, with thick, hard bottoms filled with blacksmith's nails. These are too costly for the very poor, and are worn by the middle and high classes.